A column name in the mapping file containing categorical values that will be used to identify groups. Each sample ID must have a group entry. Default is no categories and all the data will be treated as a single group.

Step 1 :
Create an all-pairs distance matrix for your sample data using the beta_diversity.py QIIME script. Different distance metrics can be calculated here: bray_curtis, morisita_horn, kulczynski, and many others.

Step 2 :
Users can use either diversity distance matrix file or BIOM format file to run LDA.py script with all relevant parameters. If a distance matrix file is provided, LDA will use the distance matrix as an input, otherwise it will calculate OTU relative abundances from input BIOM format file and run LDA based on OTU relative abundances.